Occasional snow today, the a major storm for the weekend

A complex weather pattern will develop over the next few days as a potent storm system moves across the Great Lakes.

First, a clipper system will cross the area today bringing a general snowfall of 1 to 3 inches. This system will move out and high pressure will briefly build across the area for Saturday.

A storm system is forecast to gather strength in the Plains Saturday and move toward the central Great Lakes Saturday night. On Sunday, the system will track to the eastern Lakes, while new low pressure develops along the Mid Atlantic coast. A surge of arctic air will be pulled in to the back side of this system on Sunday.

Models have been all over the place with the evolution of this pattern, and this has serious implications for our sensible weather.

For now, I suspect we will see rain, or a mix of rain, sleet and freezing rain develop Saturday night. This precipitation should change to all snow by late morning or early afternoon Sunday as temperatures plummet.

Snow and strong winds along with rapidly falling temperatures should occur Sunday afternoon into Sunday night.

Without model consensus, it is impossible to predict exact details or precipitation amounts.

By early next week, a major lake effect snow outbreak is likely. Strong winds and powdery snow could cause blizzard conditions at times along with significant accumulations.

Please check back later. I will post updated articles as new information becomes available.

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